Elisa Sance, PhD

Current Role

Elisa is an instructional designer for the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) at the University of Maine.

Education

Ph.D. History, UMaine

M.A. French , UMaine

B.A.  International Business and Languages, Université d’Angers, Angers, France

B.L.S.  Archival Sciences, Université d’Angers, Angers, France

Background and Interests

Elisa loves to think through how the multilingual brain and the neurodivergent brain process information and she is very interested in the process of learning languages. In recent years, she has been learning about and becoming our team’s expert in accessibility in teaching and learning.  

Elisa took a meandering path during her career as a student but she assures us that it all comes together in the end. She holds undergraduate degrees in international business and languages and archival sciences, and worked for a few years as an archivist/record manager in two different hospitals in France, where she is from, before going back to school. Her second time around, Elisa got the chance to work as a French teaching assistant at the University of Maine in Farmington and decided to pursue an M.A. in North American French at the University of Maine. She then continued on with a Ph.D. in Canadian-American History, still at UMaine, and researched the politics of education in Madawaska, at the beginning of the 20th century and their implications on language, identity and citizenship for the francophone population of the Madawaska region. Elisa served as an education specialist and transcriber on The Confederation Debates, 1865-1949, a Canadian initiative dedicated to providing citizens with access to Canada’s founding debates and teachers with lesson plans relevant to their own province. Prior to becoming an instructional designer at CITL, Elisa worked there as a student media assistant, recording and editing course videos. 

Courses Taught

Elisa has taught the following subjects:

  • Beginner and intermediate French
  • Accelerated courses for beginner and intermediate French
  • America at the Crossroads: The Era of the Civil War & Reconstruction, 1840-1877

Presentations (selection)

  • (upcoming) “Changing Faculty Mindsets on Accessibility in Courses,” at the 38th CSUN Assistive Technology Conference, Anaheim, CA, March 2023
  • “Applying UDL to a training program on digital accessibility,” at the 37th CSUN Assistive Technology Conference, Anaheim, CA, March 2022
  • (Roundtable) “Experiences of International Students and Women of Color,” at Advancing Women in Academia: 6th Annual Networking Conference, May 2017, Bangor, ME
  • (Roundtable) “Enriching the Academic Community: Diversity Strategies” at Advancing Women in Academia: 5th Annual Networking Conference, May 2016, Bangor, ME